A federal jury has convicted a Missouri man after he fraudulently obtained Paycheck Protection Program money that he used to start a trucking business.
The jury found Christopher Carroll, 54, guilty on Friday of three counts of bank fraud, three counts of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act, 13 violations of the Clean Air Act and two counts of threatening a witness.
The Farmington man partially owned Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair, based in Bourbon, Missouri, which was also found guilty of 16 Clean Air Act violations, prosecutors said.
Carroll was responsible for fraudulently collecting nearly $3 million in pandemic relief loans, U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming said in announcing the verdict.
“He lined his pockets with money that was supposed to save jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Fleming said. “We will seek a significant prison sentence for this defendant and his company and any sentence, by law, will include mandatory restitution.”
Carroll and his partner, George Reed, submitted a false application for a $1.2 million PPP loan in April 2020 for their timeshare exit company, Square One Group. The application contained false statements, including that the men’s wives owned the company, a move which concealed Carroll’s status as a felon, which would have barred his company from receiving money, the announcement said.
The money was not used to pay dozens of employees who were out of work, prosecutors said. Instead, Carroll used the funds to buy land and trucks to launch a trucking company. Carroll and Reed then applied for loan forgiveness, claiming they had spent the money on payroll.
“To add insult to injury, Carroll wouldn’t have even qualified for the funds if it weren’t for his employees,” Acting Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division said in the announcement. “We thank the jury for holding Carroll accountable for fleecing the PPP program, which was designed to help people who were out of a job through no fault of their own during the pandemic.”
The men then sought a second loan of about $1.6 million. Once approved, they took a total of $660,000 in “owner draws” from the company, prosecutors said.
To save money on fuel costs, Carroll had emissions control equipment designed to reduce pollutants removed from the trucks, Fleming said. Carroll asked an employee to “take the fall” for him during the federal investigation and threatened another employee, according to the announcement.
Reed, 69, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in September 2022.
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